Chapter 11: First Show of Blade

  Haotian's five hundred elite cavalry was like the last straw that crushed the camel, and with their powerful assistance, the several thousand Western Sea soldiers who were still struggling outside the East Gate finally laid down their arms and surrendered. It wasn't until then that Haotian discovered that these two cavalry units had only two thousand men, and the commander was not Li Xiao, the vice-commander he respected, but rather Guan Ying, a subordinate of his when he was the commander of the Thousand Riders.

  "Where did that kid Li Xiaonan run off to? Didn't I plan to form a cavalry of 20,000 back then? How come there are only this many people?" In front of his old subordinates, Huan Tian was quite casual. That night, after capturing Dingzhou, the warhorses of the Rouran cavalry, except for a small number that were injured or killed, all fell into Huan Tian's hands. Since the Rouran cavalry emphasized speed the most, one cavalryman often had more than one warhorse. To his surprise, Huan Tian discovered that he now had over 40,000 warhorses in his possession. Considering the size of his own army, however, Huan Tian only planned to form a cavalry of 20,000, with Feng Jing and Li Xiao as their leaders.

  "Honourable sir, in order to annihilate the enemy forces at Kezhou, General Luo has deployed all infantry within the city, while General Li leads 18,000 cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack on Kezhou. Therefore, I only have these 2,000 cavalrymen under my command."

  Hao Tian raised an eyebrow: "Are you saying that Li Xiao led this army to sneak attack Kezhou?"

  Guang Ying nodded: "Mr. Luo said that the enemy's main force is far away from the city, so there must be very few enemy troops in Kecheng City. So we decided to let General Li launch a surprise attack on Dingzhou."

  "Hmm?" Haotian smiled slightly, this Lu Xiang's head was actually not bad, originally he thought he only excelled at hiding and plotting, didn't expect that in military affairs he also had a good hand.

  "Your Excellency, there are only 5,000 enemy troops in Kozuke Castle. General Li will catch them off guard, and our military strength far surpasses theirs. Taking down Kozuke Castle is a certainty."

  Hao Tian understood the meaning behind the words and said with great interest: "Military advisor, don't you have any other ideas?"

  Xuanji burst out laughing: "The master has already made up his mind, why bother making a show of it?"

  Xinke's brain was not very good to begin with, and after being confused by the two people's riddles, he became even more bewildered. So he opened his mouth and said: "Master, just say what you want to say directly, I'm a rough person, I don't understand anything."

  On the other side, Tianyi smiled faintly and interjected, "Isn't Military Advisor planning to attack Yan State? However, Yan State has high walls and thick defenses, and inside there are also 30,000 garrison troops from the Mandan Dynasty. Compared to the enemy, we don't have the upper hand. I'm afraid Military Advisor will get a headache."

  Xuanji was shocked in his heart, although he had already seen the cleverness of this woman, but he didn't expect her to see through his thoughts at once. However, since Heaven's intention has been revealed, he no longer beat around the bush: "Someone indeed has this idea in mind, Yan State is located in the middle of the Yellow River Valley, as long as we can take down Yan State, then we can use Yan State as a base to form a stable triangular region and counterbalance with other three states."

  Feng Jing took advantage of the opportunity to interject, "Our army's total strength is only 40,000 men. Now that we've barely taken down two states, and still have to guard so many prisoners, at most we can spare 20,000 for battle. With a force of 20,000, wanting to take Yan State which has 30,000 defenders, unless..."

  Hao Tian smiled and asked: "Unless what?"

  "Draw the tiger out of the mountain and respond both inside and outside." Blood Kill said.

  "Not bad, that's right. To take down Yan State, we must either lure their troops out of the city or rely on geographical advantages to launch an ambush, or sneak in like we did with Ding State. Otherwise, there's no chance at all. But now that the enemy has probably received news of our conquest of Ding State, they'll be even more vigilant, and it will be difficult to take Yan State in a hurry."

  "Who knows who is the guardian of Yan State?" Haotian said with a glance around.

  Guangying hastily replied, "It's Wang Shuye Yelu Zhaochang, a veteran general of the Mandan Dynasty. This man has been fighting on the battlefield for over 20 years, using troops in a steady and upright manner, with few defeats throughout his life. In the three northeastern countries, he also has some reputation. Leaving him here also has the reason of coordinating the relationship between the surrounding countries. After all, the countries outside the pass are not iron plates, they temporarily suppressed their internal contradictions only because of common interests."

  "Hao Tian raised an eyebrow: 'How did you get these materials?'"

  "Honorable master, after you and the others left the city this morning, Mr. Luo ordered me to gather intelligence from the surrounding areas, combined with the confessions of the captives in the city and his own deductions, but I'm not sure if it's accurate."

  "Haha, I didn't expect you to have some talent in this area." Haotian said with a smile.

  "I've been fond of collecting interesting things since I was a kid, and using them to guess the root of things. This time it just happened to be coincidental."

  Looking at Guan Ying's simple face, a strange idea suddenly emerged in Huan Tian's mind: "Guan Ying, since you have such talent for gathering intelligence and are interested in this aspect, do you want to help me build an intelligence team?" As someone who had been in the military for a long time, Huan Tian naturally understood the importance of intelligence. In war, accurate intelligence was crucial, and he happened to be particularly lacking in this area. Since Guan Ying had that talent, why not give him an opportunity? Meanwhile, Xuan Ji nodded slightly on the side, indicating that Huan Tian's ability to extract key points from a few words and entrust important tasks to Guan Ying showed his sharp vision and broad-mindedness, proving that his choice was indeed correct.

  "Thank you, sir. I will definitely do my best and live up to your expectations." Guan Yin was overjoyed and hastily thanked him, saying...

  Haotian didn't wait for him to kneel down, and immediately grabbed him: "No need to thank me first. If you can't train a crack team for me, you'll have to take care of yourself. Now, let's listen to the military advisor's plan to capture Yan State."

  Xuanji sank into thought for a moment before speaking: "Your Excellency, as the saying goes, 'know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles.' Although Yelü Zhaochang is cautious in his military tactics, the three northeastern states are all harboring ulterior motives. If we want to capture Yan State with minimal cost, we can only think of it from this perspective."

  Yan State City Guardian Mansion. Yelü Zhaochang sat high on the main seat, beside him were his two deputy generals Fred and Xike, while in the great hall kneeling was a wretched He Xi soldier.

  "General, please send troops immediately to rescue our general." The Western Sea soldier kneeling on the ground said urgently.

  Yelü Zhaochang slowly shook his head: "This is not urgent for now, first tell the story from start to finish. Doesn't your general have 30,000 elite troops under him? Why suddenly ask me to go and rescue, did the great army of the Qingfeng Empire come out from the north of Yinfeng Ancient Fortress?"

  The Western soldier shook his head: "Not the great army of the Qingfeng Empire, but that enemy force within Dingzhou City."

  Yelü Zhaochang was slightly taken aback, but still spoke calmly: "The news of that army has also been received by the commander-in-chief. However, they only have a thousand men, and even if we add the rescued prisoners, there are only 20,000 to 30,000 people. But your general has 30,000 soldiers under his command, all of whom are elite soldiers from Haixi. Even one-on-one, it's a sure win. What's going on here?"

  "Report to the General, my general found out that Dingzhou City was attacked and was afraid of a chain reaction, so he prepared a night raid on Dingzhou that same night to retake control. Who knew the enemy was particularly cunning and intentionally leaked false information to us? Their numbers were not less than 30,000 as we initially investigated, but exactly 40,000. Moreover, they had captured our internal response early on, so my general was immediately surrounded after entering Dingzhou. I was following General Jin Shitou leading the infantry at the time, but also suffered a crazy attack from the enemy, and all 5,000 soldiers were defeated. Under General Jin's command, I could only break through the siege and come to General Pu for help."

  Break through? Probably fleeing in disarray. Yelü Zhaochang's heart sneered with a slight smile, but his face remained expressionless: "Since your general already knew that Dingzhou was breached, why didn't you inform me?"

  That Western soldier was sweating all over his face and didn't know how to explain it. He naturally understood the general's idea, but in this situation, how could he say it out loud?

  "Perhaps your General is thinking of driving away the enemy and then occupying Dingzhou alone?" Yelü Zhaochang said coldly.

  The soldier Hai Xi wiped away another cold sweat and said stiffly: "General's actions, how dare we low-ranking people make wild guesses?"

  Fortunately, Ye Lu Zhaochang did not entangle himself in this matter and coldly snorted a few times before saying: "Then is your family's general letting you come to move the rescue troops to save him?"

  "No. The general said that from the day he put on his armor and went into battle, he had already made up his mind to die in battle, but as a general, he was worried about the safety of the city of Kezhou, which now only has 5,000 infantrymen led by General Jin Suo. If the enemy army attacks the city after defeating our main force, Kezhou will inevitably be lost. Therefore, we hope that Commander Pu will immediately rush to reinforce Kezhou."

  Yelü Zhāochāng's eyebrows slightly raised, unexpectedly, Jin Lianghe and his men still had such insight, nodded and said: "You go down first."

  The Hessian soldiers looked up with some trepidation: "Has the general decided to rush to the aid of K state?"

  Yelü Zhaochang ignored the urgent mood of the Western Xia soldiers and coldly said, "Your task has been completed. As for whether to rescue Ganzhou, that is the commander's business."

  After the Western soldiers retreated, Yelü Zhaochang asked the two people beside him: "What do you two think of this matter?"

  "General, I've always felt that something is off about this matter. There are only 40,000 people in Dingzhou City, and even if they can defeat the 25,000 soldiers at Jinliang River, the enemy will surely suffer heavy losses as well. In my opinion, with such a costly victory, they won't be able to take down Kuzhou, which is still guarded by 5,000 Haixi soldiers."

  Yelü Zhaochang's gaze turned to Xike: "Did you see?"

  Xī Kè thought for a moment and said: "I agree with General Fred's view, I am very suspicious that the other side is not prepared to attack Jinzhou openly, but secretly has the intention of attacking my Yan state."

  Yelü Zhaochang nodded, but then shook his head: "The two generals are both right. Since the Jinliang River has already been defeated, it is reasonable that the enemy army would take advantage of the situation and attack Kuozhou. However, it's also hard to say that they don't have a plan to lure the tiger away from its den. After all, as long as they can capture Yanzhou, then with a pincer movement, Kuozhou will inevitably fall."

  The two of them exchanged a glance, and it wasn't until then that Fred ventured to ask, "What did the general mean?"

  "We must send troops to rescue Kezhou." Yelü Zhaochang said firmly: "If we let the enemy capture Kezhou smoothly, they can use the two states as a base and rely on the Yin Wind Ancient Fortress behind them to pose a strong challenge to our army. We are all new occupants here, and we have no foundation in this place. If the enemy takes advantage of the situation and launches a northern expedition, these violent people will surely follow suit. Therefore, we must quickly send aid to Kezhou, gather the strength of the five states, and retake Dingzhou with lightning speed, returning to the confrontation with Yin Wind Ancient Fortress. This is the only way to ensure the stability of our occupied territory. Moreover, this is on the enemy's home soil, although they may have suffered heavy casualties in the battle at Jinliang River, their troops can be replenished conveniently and quickly recover their combat effectiveness. Therefore, it is advisable to send aid to Kezhou as soon as possible."

  Xie Ke said with some worry, "But we only have 30,000 soldiers in our hands." Because the Allied Forces couldn't swallow the Yin Wind Mountains all at once, and there were internal conflicts within the Allied Forces, after occupying the Yellow Sleeve region, each side agreed to leave behind a force of only 30,000 people. Yan State was not the capital of the Yellow Sleeve region, but due to the agreement, Yelü Zhaochang still had only 30,000 soldiers under his command.

  Yelü Zhaochang said: "The enemy army is no more than 40,000. After deducting the losses in battle and the necessary garrison troops, they will not be able to mobilize more than 20,000 troops. Yan State has high walls and thick cities, as long as we leave 15,000 infantrymen behind, if the enemy does not have any special means, it is impossible for them to take the city. Of course, we also do not rule out their intention to surround and attack our reinforcements, so I, the commander-in-chief, have decided to lead 15,000 cavalrymen to go to Kezhou. As long as Jin Suo is not a fool, this battle will be won without a doubt."

  Fred was still a bit worried: "What if General Sherman arrives and Kentucky has already fallen?"

  Yelü Zhaochang laughed and said, "If Kuo State falls, then the commander will retreat back to Yen State. With the military strength of Ting State, in a field battle they would not be able to hold back the commander's 15,000 elite cavalry."

  Xī kè very obviously had one more trick up his sleeve than Fred, and he was still pondering what Yelü Zhaochang had said earlier: "General, what special means are you referring to?"

  Yelü Zhaochang looked at Xike and nodded in approval: "The defensive fortifications of Yan State are solid, if the enemy army wants to take down Yan State with 20,000 troops, the only way is to have internal and external cooperation. And within the city of Yan State, apart from the 200,000 Qingfeng civilians, there are also more than 30,000 prisoners of war. So I'll leave you with 15,000 infantrymen, keep a close eye on them."

  "What if those people have an accident?" Xike asked with a red glow in his eyes.

  "Kill!" Yelü Zhaochang said coldly, and the two men on either side of him nodded in agreement.

  Just then, a personal soldier came in to report: "Report to the commander, outside the south gate, there are constantly scattered Haixi soldiers coming, all of whom are cavalry. The general guarding the south gate has sent someone to ask the commander how to deal with them."

  Yelü Zhāochāng's eyebrows furrowed slightly: "What's going on? How did they end up in Yan State? If they're Haixi soldiers, why didn't they head to Ke State?"

  "Tell the commander-in-chief," replied the orderly, "that they say General Jin Suo, who is defending Kuzhou, is afraid that there may be enemy spies among these defeated soldiers. As Kuzhou's military strength is weak at present, in order to prevent any possible danger, he has ordered them to come here and ask for help."

  Yelü Zhaochang slightly smiled: "It seems that this Jin Su is not a fool after all, much smarter than his stupid superior. And it's also pitiful for these defeated soldiers, from Dingzhou to Kezhou, and then from Kezhou to Yanzhou, over 200 miles, only cavalry can achieve this."

  Xike hastily replied: "Does the general mean to accept the surrender of these defeated troops?"

  "Of course, our three northeastern provinces have always been connected by the same breath. Since they came to surrender, how could we ignore them? Hehe, when the time comes for General Zhang to defend K state, if they can point out in person that Jin Su drank for personal gain and disregarded the lives of soldiers, it would be perfect."

  Xī kè liǎng rén huì yì, dōu shì hā hā yī xiào. Kè zhōu chéng zhōng xiàn zài jiù zhǐ yǒu wǔ qiān bīng lì, dào shí hòu yī wàn wǔ qiān qí bīng jìn rù chéng zhōng, fǎn kè wéi zhǔ bìng fēi nán shì. Nà yàng wáng guó zài hé tào de tǔ dì yòu jiāng duō chū yī zhōu. Zì jǐ zài zhè ge fù jiàng de wèi zhì shàng yě dài le hěn cháng yī duàn shí jiān le, yào shì zhēn de néng gòu zhè yàng, shuō bù dìng hái néng gòu ràng chū qù zuò yī gè tǔ huáng dì ne.

  After a big laugh, Yelü Zhaochang said: "Since those soldiers are all coming towards us, let the Hesi soldiers who came first go to defend the south gate together. Anyway, they are all Hesi soldiers, with them guarding the pass, the possibility of spies sneaking in is much smaller. Now only cavalry has arrived, I estimate that in a few hours, some infantry should also arrive?"

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